Our Daily Ocean: Day 17

On Monday, while my two oldest children decided to stay at work with their Dad... my youngest son and I went to Wrightsville Beach to... well... you know what we do.  I had originally decided that we were going to go to Access 39, but as I as driving I saw a really great parking spot at.....  Access 33!!

Prepared to pay for parking...I got out a bunch of coins to fill the parking meter... and as loaded in my first coin... NOTHING happened!!  Oooops!!  Off-season!!  YAY!! Free parking!!! (well... kind of... I totally lost 35 cents!)

The weather on Monday was less than ideal for the beach.... cold and windy... (sigh) it's finally fall here in Wilmington.... 

There was hardly anyone at the beach... just a couple of fisherman and a few runners that we saw pass during our 20 minutes.  As we were picking up the usual... I came across a lot of blue rope material...

It was all over the beach... frayed with little blue pieces everywhere.... not sure "what" exactly it's made of... but since I had a bucket overflowing with the rope... it makes me think that maybe Blockade Runner could come up with another way to mark their volleyball court (??)... hmmm....

Soooo... want the good news?!?  On Monday when we got home from the beach... I saw that Brita FilterForGood had finally announced the winners of the FilterForGood Film Project!!  Yup... my project was voted as one of the winners!  Of course, I knew Friday... but as soon as it was up on Facebook and the directors were announced... even MORE...JUMPING!!  DANCING!!  YAY!!  I am so grateful for everyone who took the time to vote for my project.... I have the most AWESOME family, friends and community!! 

(:   THANK YOU!!   :)

On that note of community, I talk about my friend Bonnie a lot on this blog and what she's doing about plastics in our oceans... 

"Did you know that an estimated 60-80% of marine litter starts out on land??  Much of this is done while people are enjoying our beautiful shorelines, oceans and waterways. " (Natural Awakenings pages 22-23... Thanks Barb!!) 

On November 6, I'll be livestreaming Tedx Great Pacific Garbage Patch.  You should totally join us for this global community event... as no doubt it will change the way we live today and for the future.  This one-day event will bring together speakers from all different fields to discuss the global plastic pollution crisis.  Together the group will identify the problem and share possible ways to solve it.  AND... the conference will culminate with the launch of 4 challenges to humanity... you can watch the event LIVE on    www.TedxGreatPacificGarbagePatch.com, or here on my blog (I'll get that up Saturday) OR on the "It Starts With Me" facebook page starting at 8:30 am PST.

Confirmed speakers include Dr. Sylvia Earle, Captain Charles Moore, Van Jones, David de Rothschild, Jackson Browne, Jordan Howard, Stacy Malkan, Ken Cook, Bharati Chaturvedi, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, Vice President of Ghana, Beth Terry, Fabien Cousteau, and Ed Begley Jr. More speakers are listed on the event web sitewww.TedxGreatPacificGarbagePatch.com.  View the agenda for the day’s events at http://www.tedxgreatpacificgarbagepatch.com/agenda/. 

20 minutes on November 1, 2010

Total amount of litter picked up by weight: 5.7 oz

Cigarette Butts: 85 (yes... this is the least amount we've picked up... YAY!!)

My son said, "Mom... I didn't get much cigarettes."  I told him, "That's a good thing."

Total amount of cigarette butts picked up off of Wrightsville Beach, NC in 17 days:

7,710